Night didn't fall — it slipped into the sky like ink poured into clear water.
One blink it was afternoon.Another blink — shadows stretched a little too far.The air cooled without wind.The city lights flickered on in a rhythm too synchronized to be human.
Not evening.
A transition.
The world flipping a page.
The girl walked beside me now instead of behind, her steps steadier — but only because she matched the rhythm of mine.
She had no rhythm of her own yet.Not one the story acknowledged.
"Where are we going?" she asked softly.
I exhaled.
"I'm not sure. But the world wants us to move — so we move somewhere it didn't predict."
"Is that possible?"
"We won't know until we try."
✦We left the main street and cut into a smaller road.
Shops here were closed.Signs dim.Street empty—
Then suddenly populated.
Not gradually.
Instantly.
A woman selling tea.A man smoking against a shutter.Kids chasing each other.An old poster peeling from the wall.
